The late Reverend William Edward Horley, MBE, was one of the great educationists of the Methodist Mission. He was born in 1870 and died in 1931. He founded schools and did church and educational work in Perak and Selangor for 37 years.

The ACS, Ipoh and the MBS, Kuala Lumpur were the schools he started. On his death, at the graveside, the Bishop of Singapore, the Right Reverend B.C. Roberts paid a generous tribute to his memory.

The following is one passage from the Bishop’s address. “For 37 years William Edward Horley spent himself in passionate devotion to the social and spiritual welfare of the people of this country. His zeal did not go without recognition and he gained a public distinction which many men might covet, but far more precious to him must have been the confidence of the hundreds of simple souls which he won, and the personal friendships which he made by his cheerful and sympathetic nature. But he was more than a good comrade and kindly humanitarian. He had an exceptionally clever vision of God, and the witness whom he bore was never obscure or half hearted or compromising.”

Apart from the street, there are also schools, buildings and sports houses named after the great educationist.

What is Horley Street most popular for?

Flea market on Sundays

Vicinity to Public Pusing Seafood Restaurant (popularly known as Mun Choong)

Thank you ipohWorld for the information, but now we have two Veerasamys. I found one in Dr.Ho Tak Ming’s IPOH, When Tin Is King (pg486), it states that S.Veerasamy was the first Indian Member of the Federal Council. Furthermore, he was a partner of the Ipoh legal firm of Veerasamy and Yew Koh, thus he had a footing in Ipoh. This reflects that the legal man’s name is the one that is stated on the street. Moreover, the late Tun Sambathan’s father was not a very popular figure. Pardon me if I am not right.

I believe that Veerasamy was probably S.N.Veerasamy who was picked by the British after WW1 to represent his ethnic group and sit on the state council. He was a lawyer and a graduate of Oxford University.

Steven Lee, Jalan Veerasamy is the road leading to Yik Foong Plaza before the traffic lights along Public Bank. Horley Street is also known as Memory Lane and thus far no one as changed this streets name. Any idea who is this Veerasamy?

I hope the authorities do not change the original names of the early streets in the name of “patriotism”. Not only that would be akin to hijacking, but history and the character of town town would be erased in the name change.

There are plenty of roads in newer parts of towns that can surely use local names. Unless I’m wrong, usually roads are named for persons who have already passed on to reflect their contributions.

Besides being an educator, Reverend Horley was also a staunch anti-opiumists. In the early 1900s, there were about 60 opium saloons in Ipoh. He was one of the pioneers to began to campaign against opium selling in Ipoh.